It was July 1982 and I'd moved out of my parent's home, and was a 19 year-old sharing a house with some lads in central Portsmouth when this came out, I remember buying it and then realising I'd have to carry it to Fratton Park to watch Pompey play, hoping that it would survive the crush on the terraces (in those days the Fratton End was a terrace and we all swayed around rather a lot!). Thankfully it did survive.
It's safe to say that this is an all-time classic - the first rap song with a social message - THE message - it made a massive impact at the time and it's been sampled and copied ever since. The music is secondary, it's not particularly inspiring but the lyrics - printed in full on the FRONT of the picture sleeve - were what mattered. A huge slice of reality for America and on the 12" you got a full 7 minutes plus.
Although credited to the Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five the song was c0-written and sung by only two of them - Duke Bootee and Melle Mel. It's on the brilliant Sugar Hill label which at the time could do no wrong and was a guarantee of quality (it's biggest hit being "Rapper's Delight" by the Sugar Hill Gang)
Listening to it again today, it still sounds fresh and the Message still resonates. Here's the music:
https://youtu.be/vsmp-TYjxp4
